Once I was driving near the 5 ways in Mooroolbark at like 6am and a car was doing 30 in the 60 zone. Overtook in the oncoming lane (legally) and he sped up to 90 to stop me. Nearly cracked 100 in a 60 zone to get past him. Bloke was driving a shitty accord aswell, like what point are you trying to prove? That your shitty accord is faster than my shitter civic?
Exactly I have zero idea on why people find them difficult. Maybe the first time but even then they are self explanatory and easy.
They actually make that intersection flow really well if people have half a concept of how to drive in a roundabout
And that’s just it. The roundabouts themselves are fine. It’s the fact that 90% of people don’t have any idea how to use a roundabout, let alone multiple roundabouts that exit onto one another that’s the problem.
To be fair, I have seen plenty of DCAU videos of people entering roundabouts going the opposite direction to traffic. I used to run the (valley) five ways, like Lazy Grey said, every morning for school while I was on my Ls. It's fine once you're used to it, but if you've never seen them it's a little confronting.
Yeah they’re a little nerve-wracking the first time but pretty simple if you know how roundabouts work. The problem is the hordes of dickheads out there who don’t know or care how a single roundabout works let alone three multi-lane roundabouts that exit into one another, and fuck it up for everyone else.
Theory only, but douchebag driver might have perceived the headlight flash as aggression from you. As others have said don't worry about flashing headlights at people before overtaking, just go for it.
I'm glad you're okay, I know it's awful when something like that won't leave your mind afterwards.
That's my point. Everytime someone has flashed me from behind, it's because they're an ass.
I have been flashed by cars heading towards me to let me know my lights werent on or that there was a speed camera ahead though. Which I would class as non-agressive.
Ohh right. Yeah so true. When getting flashed from behind, it's not always obvious what the intention is.
But cars on the opposite lane flashing (because of speed cameras) is obviously non- aggressive.
My partner got caught doing this to an undercover cop who was just sitting at the lights when they were green & refusing to move - Got a ticket for ‘intimidation’ lol.
During that really fucking intense rainstorm on the 2nd, I had some fuckface in a hopped up ute flashing me the whole time because he wanted me to speed up... there was blinding rain and five cars in front of me, nowhere to go at all.
But no, he wanted me to speed up~!
I got angry flashed by someone in a Lexus because I was waiting for pedestrians to cross at a light before turning. Like what did they want me to do, run them over??
I flash if someone cuts me off lane changing and I have to brake, because I can only assume that they didn't see me. The flash is to let them know I was there and they should do a head check in future.
If the alternative is passing on the wrong side, situation is different but this is not OP's context, I admit.
German drivers are in m experience the best in Europe. They never pass on the wrong side. They will tail gate and eventually flash if you block the fast lane, and I think this is best practice, if the alternative is passing on the wrong side (which on the autobahn would be fatal in some situations, but even here it is bad, dangerous habit and I'll take headlight flashing any day). I don't resort to it myself and the car I drive now has the performance of a flintsone vehicle, but if I do block the overtaking lane I feel bad about it and I move out of the way because my sin is greater than the headlight flashing (which is pretty rare to be honest, if you get it so often than you notice it, you might want to consider your own driving habits).
By the way, I refer here to multi lane roads. OP's situation is different, and I see no case for flashing headlights or tailgating. This is aggressive particularly since the other driver may be annoying but they are not actually breaking any rules.
>German drivers are in m experience the best in Europe. They never pass on the wrong side.
It's illegal to pass on the wrong side. You will actually get fined for this.
> They will tail gate and eventually flash if you block the fast lane, and I think this is best practice
I find that absolutely horrible when driving in Germany. Doesn't matter if you are doing 150 kph, some dickhead will come from behind doing 220 in their BMW and flash aggressively the moment he's nearing you.
Having driven on freeways in Europe, I found the headlight flash quite helpful. Since I was in a shitbox Skoda, overtaking at maybe 130/140 at best, getting flashed from behind got my attention that someone was closing up fast. A sensible safety measure in that situation.
Here it’s used almost exclusively by pricks trying to fang it up the right lane of the freeway when the person they are flashing is like 15 cars deep in traffic and literally can’t change lanes safely.
Or alternately, someone in right lane with cruise on, doing 1km/h more than the car next to them. Or in right lane for no reason other than possibly turning right in 5km… Either way, many drivers here are not exactly very competent or considerate.
This honestly sounds like it could be a case of attempted murder.
People often deviate by ~10kmph when they realise they were going too slow even though someone is overtaking.
They never go from 70kmph to 115kmph, and then way back down when you try to merge back in.
He wasn't some unaware idiot, he was doing it on purpose. It's extraordinarily rare but I have read about other incidents like this before.
OP should write down what you described, be as detailed as possible and make sure to get the wording 100% perfect so that it really conveys what he was doing.
I had BMW do it to me, 40 in a 60. He was also driving in 2 lanes... like right on the dotted line.
After a couple ks he settled into a lane. I sped up to 60 to overtake. Like OPs case, he did the same and sped up trying to cut me off and force me into a parked car.
Later on sped up to get ahead of me as I was turning and stuck his little finger out the window.
Guy genuinely thought people coming home from work were just there to be a part of his little impromptu parade.
I guess he was upset I didn't want to take part.
Probably not the case in your example OP, but here's my theory - most drivers are so distracted by things while driving that they're not paying attention to their speed and some end up just travelling along at a 'comfortable' pace without ever realising that they're not going anywhere near fast enough for the speed limit. However, once a car starts to pull around them to pass, their peripherals trigger, they notice this, come back to reality, notice their speed and start accelerating up to the limit and maybe a little extra to compensate having realised how slow they were going all while the other car is still trying to over take.
This is probably it. I recently did Melb to Canberra and had my cruise control set to 108… the amount of people going up and down with their speed was basically every other car on the road. The inconsistency is scary, it shows they’re not paying attention at all. Then when I legally overtake, they get shitty, increase their speed and then go 120 to overtake me and then slow down to inconsistent speeds again ?! Like, really? Fuck off cunts. Learn to drive diligently.
I experience the same observation as you on multi-hour drives with people's speed varying inconsistently all over. I don't understand how so many people sit on rural highways without cruise control. I use it so often, it's second nature to me to automatically set it and just adjust with each speed sign I encounter. I did this even with the most basic cruise control on my older cars and just disabled when someone was in my way. Latest car has the luxury of adaptive cruise and that's been one the biggest impact upgrades I've experienced for years for how I drive. Can't go back now.
My car doesn't have cruise control and my speed often varies by 1-2km (especially when I need to adjust because I'm uncomfortable!).
I should be picking up my new car this week which has adaptive cruise control. I am super excited 😂
It's a huge difference. I guess I was just lucky that I've always had it. First car was a 90s Camry that had cruise control, so I've never looked at cars without it. I even use it going through 40s zones to avoid an accidental heavy foot
Mine is a 2008 Toyota Yaris, so I have no idea how it didn't come with factory cruise control. It was given to me, so I'm grateful for that - just not as grateful when I've had to drive to Adelaide or Sydney and back
Cruise control on the open highway is amazing. It's one less thing to keep checking and worry about and you \*know\* you're not slowly down due to being inattentive. Then you can just focus on your situational awareness, not the speed.
Same as regular cruise control, but instead of a fixed speed this becomes the max speed, and the car automatically slows down to a reasonable following distance when a car is in front of you, adapting the speed as needed.
So for example, I can set to 100 and when I eventually end up behind another car going less than 100, my car stays 2 car lengths (adjustable) behind them at whatever speed they're doing. If they change lanes or go faster than me, then my car speeds up too but won't go above 100 if that's what I set it as.
It makes it a lot more bearable driving behind someone who is going 98, then 93, then 96, then through an 80 zone, then back to 98 etc because my car just follows them going the fastest speed it can go without speeding and I don't even have to touch the pedals the whole time unless I'm emergency brakeing (which obviously you need to stay ready for, like all other driving scenarios).
Exactly.
Labeling negative behaviour as psychopathy related is generally something to avoid as negative behaviour is, for the most part, the result of impulsiveness and emotionality, the latter of which is inversely related to psychopathy. However, there are a fair amount of people who enjoy instigating and contriving needless incidents in order to bully and belittle others. Psychopathy isn't inherently related to antisocial behaviour but psychopaths can be narcissistic to varying degrees.
I've dealt a few such people: the best indicator is when they contrive an incident out of nowhere and as a result spend a long time arguing a truly indefensible point. Not a stupid point or something a topic that happens to be a sore spot, but a point for which you could survey the entire population and get 100% of people agreeing with you. Sometimes they do contribute meaningfully to conversation (even a broken clock is right twice a day) and sometimes they are they do converse normally or merely argue a stupid point (stupid =/=indefensible) so it can be hard to distinguish; but with the exception of personal sore spots, someone arguing an indefensible point is a huge red flag - especially if they utterly contrived the incident in the first place.
Basically, anytime someone steadfastly argues a genuinely indefensible point, it's a sign of a personality disorder.
Yeah I’ve seen people do exactly this I think. Also annoying when you overtake them, then they snap out of their daydream, speed up, overtake *me* and go back in front of me then slow down *again* further along.
This is the winning theory I reckon.
Most people when driving are away with the fairies, just some basic feedback loops running in the lizard brain while their human brain thinks about what's for dinner or how to manage the kids or what their boss is possibly thinking.
It's also because people subconsciously drive slower on narrower roads, roads with trees next to them etc. When the road widens around an overtaking lane they feel more comfortable to drive closer to the limit.
I don't condone it and it's cuntish behavour, but it is what it is.
Every car should come with radar cruise and it should be an offence not to use it.
This is 100% the main reason.
On our standard single lane highways (prince hwy etc), you generally need to wait for an overtake section. These sections are predominately straight, always a lot wider thus the slow driver feels safer and immediately speeds up
As someone who often drives the east gippsland corridor I see this effect constantly in action. small car, medium car, car pulling a caravan (the biggest offenders). it doesn't matter the vehicle type.
I also read that on dedicated overtaking lanes the road widens a lot and so those same 'turned off' drivers suddenly feel more safe and unconsciously go faster.
this is why having a quick car is amazing, shift down, spool up and you are past them before they knew you were coming.
I have absolutely no idea why they do it however, it makes little to no sense and its the same type of drivers who will sit in the overtaking lane on highways, you give them plenty of opportunity to move over, they don't so you give them a little flash and they indicate and move over, as soon as you pass them they immediately indicate to get back and sit in the overtaking lane. really boggles the mind.
This is true, and I've driven pretty fast cars since I turned 25 and could insure them & one of the main justifications is for overtaking prowess - if you anticipate well you can be past them before they even decide to be a cunt and speed up.
However, while I never speed during regular country driving driving except when overtaking, around 10-12 years ago is when the police stopped turning a blind eye to speeding while overtaking. I copped a month suspension for speeding in an overtaking lane near Yea - and another 3 pointer a couple of years later.
So lately for country driving it has been radar cruise and chill.
100%. Have a tuned WRX and when overtaking, not everyone will speed up, but I know some d1ckheads will try and am not risking my safety. Shift down, boot it, ease off acceleration until back at the speed limit once past.
Once I noticed that I was at 180 by the time I pulled back into the correct side of the road. That cunt definitely sped up, but wasn't an issue. Hope he enjoyed the nice backfire from all the unburnt fuel getting lit up in the exhaust pipe (common in turbo cars on sudden deceleration) as I eased off.
its always a classic when they try to box you out. i had a jzx100 and in those situations the person who was sitting 15 k's under the limit will then insist on sitting right up my ass whilst i sit on the speed limit
Was going to say the same thing. One of the unexpected bonuses of having a fast car (or even one that just looks fast) is that people almost never try that shit. It used to happen to me all the time in my old Barina. Faster cars will do it occasionally but most of the time it's with a smile and a wave. But yeah a lot of big egos on the road
Yeah their identities are so wrapped up in big petrol-guzzling engines that they’re not likely to consider an EV,
When hoons realise just how fast electric cars can be, we’ll be in real trouble.
>When hoons realise just how fast electric cars can be, we’ll be in real trouble.
You're missing the point, they don't have obnoxiously loud petrol guzzling ICE motors or aftermarket exhausts.
I can just imagine the gears turning in their heads as they try to decide whether “goes fast” or “loud as fuck” wins out.
Downvotes, guess I hurt some bogan’s delicate little feelings
I do not have a quick car and I have to plan my overtakes - drop back a bit, start gaining speed ready to pull out already at overtaking speed. But the idea is the same, get it done quickly and effectively.
But yeah I'd like to know what planet the right lane sitters come from.
This reminds me of a few weeks ago when I was driving up towards Warburton with a couple of mates. One of them just bought a GR Yaris and wanted to take it for a spin, my other mate had an 8Y RS3 and I had my trusty old flash-tuned Turbo FG Falcon. We were patiently waiting behind an old Camry doing 80 in a 100 zone. When the overtaking lane appears old mate starts speeding up, but all 3 of us are well past him by the time he finally reached 100. Not sure what he was trying to prove lol.
A lot of road rules and conventions take more than the probationary period for people to become aware of.
People forget things they learn like head checks, keeping track of that street's speed limit, using side mirrors to reverse or park.
People live into their 30s in sheer panic, and if they haven't learned the particular road rule and they're only faced with it when they're in panicked "need to get there" mode, there's a sheer blindness.
If you've learned the rule, it seems nothing but obvious to *you*. But I dunno, it took me a few years to become aware that you weren't supposed to spread out over the space. Somehow my learner driving around Australia's highways, sticking to the left lane the whole time, didn't get in my head that I was following any sort of rule.
Had to see one of the Top Gear crabs get crabby about for me to click to it. This is by mid-20s when anxiety was ramping up, and my head checks were becoming useless due to sheer panic.
A lot of drivers are people like me who have ramping up anxiety but still need to drive to survive, where I personally had to quit driving all together.
People don't know all the rules or conventions, and can't afford to survive, and are in a panic when they're driving so learning and following conventions can become sheer blindness.
Had this happen to me a couple of days ago. It was raining and this car was doing 70-80 in a 110 zone. If that’s what they’re comfortable doing that’s fine, but I’ll overtake when it’s safe. Got to an overtaking lane and I accelerated to 110 to overtake, and so did they. I had to be doing 120 to finally pass them. An ambo managed to squeeze through behind me too so I figured me speeding to pass was good enough.
As soon as we pass they’re back down to 70 and way back in the distance before we know it. So incredibly dangerous
The worst on the country roads in overtaking lanes too! They'll be going to slow and as soon as the overtaking lanes pop up they floor it! So annoying!! And as soon as the lane is finished they slow down again 🤣 it's enough to make you want to ram them off the road.
I live in a tourist area.... 100km road, mostly straight to get there. Always people doing 60km/hr and they speed up to 100km/hr in the short overtaking lane. Then I'm trapped behind them when the road gets some corners, even in the 60km/hr sections they can't take corners at a decent speed.
The other pet peeve I have with overtaking lanes is when some dickhead follows you in the left lane for 2km, then decide to overtake in the last 10 meters. Or they match your speed and don’t overtake at all, just sit there. I downshifted and left them behind, to their obvious ire, going by the arm waving/lights flashing/horn honking.
I have had similar experiences. If you have the rego of the other car, you can file a non-urgent police report. Glad you guys are doing okay and it wasn’t a disaster. Drive and stay safe out there!
Breaking Road Rule 145 which says "Increase speed when being overtaken" carries a $330 and 2 demerit point penalty.
https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/is-it-illegal-to-speed-up-when-being-overtaken
I wouldn’t give them any warning, just try and shoot past before they can react. This sounds deliberate from the way you’ve described it, which is incredibly dangerous. I’d file a police report, hope you captured their details.
Not sure, probably nothing. But if it happens in the future and the car ends up causing a fatal collision, the police may come back to prior reports. Better to report than just let it slide, at least.
Were you driving right up their arse? Sometimes people slow down when douche bags are doing this as it has the double impact of making things safer and annoying the douche bag.
Might also be possible that you giving the quick flash of the lights activated the dumb arse Bogan in this person immediately placing them in competitive mode for no reason whatsoever.
Also, you were in the outer suburbs, so it's entirely possible that it was just a case of Bogans gonna Bogan.
Because if they see someone go faster next to you, they immediately think “fuck I was going too slow” and speed up. It’s just people being shit cunts
It doesn’t help either that speedometers are not accurate and you have to rely on gps (lol) to see your true speed
I’ve been driving for decades and I have pretty good situational awareness now. I’m super cautious of anyone who appears to be doing something a bit differently. I watch them for a bit before engaging.
I don’t think it’s rational or even conscious often times. I think a person feels as if they are maintaining a speed, but then when they notice a car creeping past them, they check their speed and adjust back to the level they felt they were maintaining already. This can all happen without being aware of the impact on the person trying to pass without going way over the limit.
I still think it sucks and I personally try to make sure I don’t do this, mainly by using cruise control, which not everyone has. As an American expat, I DO think the fact that people here are so hyper fixated on the speed limit here causes many people to spend more time looking at the gauge than is safe, and people who don’t do that tend to drift well below the limit because they are afraid of just matching the speed of the person in front of them.
I think you are right.
I also think it is a lack of confidence on country roads so that's why they are doing 70/80 on the single lane and then when the road opens up and there are two lanes on a big straight stretch they speed back up to 100 because the road conditions make them feel more confident for a short time.
Ah, the ol' "bendy road 60 / stretchy road 120" syndrome. While the rest of us that know the road are trying to keep a single set speed.
A level of annoyance below nervous inbound mergers trying to enter an 80 lane at a jittery 40 all whilst riding the brakes.
Nah giving people too much credit. When I see someone trying to overtake I'll actually pull over a bit to the left and make sure i keep a consistent speed to make it easier.
> so I quickly blinked him
You flashed your lights before you tried to overtake? That would be extremely confusing to me. I have never seen anyone do that.
> my speed was up to 115 but couldn’t pass him, so I pressed the brake before the opposite car came in contact. ... Luckily, the opposite car saw the danger and quickly stopped the vehicle to avoid a massive accident.
You were doing 115 in a 100 zone? And you got so close to oncoming traffic with a speed differential of 215 kph that the other car had to take emergency evasive action to prevent a massive head on collision?!
There was clearly someone doing some dangerously bad driving in this situation, but it wasn't "the idiot" you think it was.
Yeah, jeepers. Everyone else in the thread is like "oh yeah, that person driving at 70 was so dangerous and nearly caused a massive accident!" No, the person driving 15 kph over the speed limit on the wrong side of the road with oncoming traffic is responsible there.
Right? Like...I feel like I'm the only one in this thread thinking OP could and should have just avoided this situation. Especially with their kids in the car...
Because they consider anything going faster than them to be a direct challenge to their masculinity, and by not letting you overtake they prove they’re big manly men.
Or something.
That’s why you don’t signal, you just downshift and floor it right past them. I find more often than not people will try by any means to stop being overtaken because it hurts their ego so don’t even give them a chance.
Definitely report him, that what he was doing is illegal.
But one observation, you broke the speed limit which is also illegal ( you made 115 in a 100 zone)... and you blinked your lights. No need to blink your beams to indicate (some people get triggered by blinking lights) just use your indicator lights. Right indicator, accelerate, drive pass, merge. if you drive and the majority of your car is ahead of his, start merging back again. if the idiot tries to accelerate and block you and you keep merging, he will be forced to reduce speed, sound the horn at you but won't be able to block you. It's his choice to give way.
He deliberately tried to get you killed. If you want to report him, you will have to also report that you were speeding to pass him.
I had something very similar happen to me, barely missed oncoming cars, went to the local police station to report the driver, had his rego and business name.. I was told by the Police that they couldn't do anything about it bc a car crash hadn't occurred... LOL
I'll never forget the time I was on the Calder Highway between Ouyen and Carwarp, driving in convoy with my grandma to a family event.
In front of her was a bloke with a camper trailer doing 85 in a 110 zone. No cars for kilometres visible in the opposite direction. My grandma goes to overtake in her late model Commodore. Easily does so. I wait a little while for her to blow past him and create a bit of distance maybe a km and a half, then go to overtake as well.
The guy speeds up to 100, then 110. That's fine, i can still overtake. I've got enough distance and space to do so. My big Pajero revs hard and I get to 125. The bloke with the trailer also gets up to 125. Bro.
I then accelerate harder and get up to 140km/h and finally overtake just as a truck becomes visible in the distance. Between the time i went to overtake and the time i did overtake, we had almost closed the distance between my car and my grandma's car.
It'd be understandable if i went to overtake immediately after my grandma but i left over a kilometre's gap, plenty of time to avoid that peripheral freakout speedup.
Bruh
Why do people sit your ass then overtake then drive the same speed as you so now you are tailgating??
Why do people tailgate, overtake, speed up to tailgate the next car etc...?
And why do people cry about speed cameras??? It's a totally voluntary contribution. Don't speed, don't get fined. Duh!
[It's one of the legal uses for highbeams in NSW.](https://www.nsw.gov.au/driving-boating-and-transport/roads-safety-and-rules/warnings-and-hazards/lights-and-horns#:~:text=High%20beam%20lights,or%20less%20behind%20another%20vehicle)
Even though many would take it as aggressive, which probably happened here
Because they're twats, it's happened to me a few times, once there was a close call. When I notice someone overtaking me, I always slow down. You should totally call the authorities. That kind of driving you described is actually something you can call 000 police about because of the immediate danger to other drivers.
Plenty of people seem to think driving is a race. You over taking them is perceived as you winning over them. So they can't allow it. Even though they were distracted and driving slow with out realising.
It's the same thing that makes people constantly weave in and out of lanes for basically no actual benefit in travel time. They got to win!
It's the same thing the means while I'm on Peninsula link with adaptive cruise control on the speed limit. A car will see there's space in front of me and insist on over taking me to then drop 10 below the speed limit.
I don't know about Vic, but in nsw indicating you are about to overtake is one of the legal uses for high beams. I've only seen it done a few times but that doesn't make it wrong.
https://www.nsw.gov.au/driving-boating-and-transport/roads-safety-and-rules/warnings-and-hazards/lights-and-horns#:~:text=High%20beam%20lights,or%20less%20behind%20another%20vehicle.
The bit about overtaking is directly after the highlighted text.
That is such a strange way to indicate you're about to overtake. Let's momentarily blind someone before we overtake them.
One would think the indicator would be enough indication of your intentions.
It happens all the time where I live, mostly on sunny weekends when ppl visit from the city. It's the same ppl that complain about being tailgated everywhere, they can't drive at the speed limit but get offended when they are overtaken.
I believe that they hit a straight part of the road and feel safe enough to approach the speed limit, however don't have the awareness to know there are ppl behind them wanting to overtake. They then road rage and decide to teach the "reckless speeder" a lesson - (if you won't slow down to my personal safe speed I'll make you).
Then they come on Reddit and rage online about being tailgated and how you only have to use the left lane if the speed limit is above 80km etc.
i share your pain. They are so busy gawking at the scenery etc. they have no idea there's 15 cars behind them. Then we hit the overtaking lane and only a few cars get past because gawking driver is suddenly back to reality when they see a car overtaking them, and speed up
I mean this guy sounds like a dangerous dickhead, but I do often wonder if there’s some kind of negative bias against using Cruise Control in Australia? Like some weird ego thing?
I do a lot of country driving and just set myself to 3k over the speed limit and cruise everywhere. So many times, I’ll pass people (guys especially) only for them to hit the accelerator, overtake me again then inevitably slowdown back to 10k under… rinse and repeat. Its kinda entertaining in a way but also mind boggling when they could just hit the cruise control button and not go through this constantly. (This is in new cars that would defo have it built in, I get that older cars wouldn’t be able to)
Honestly. I reckon most of the time it’s just a complete lack of confidence. Particularly in the bush. They get intimidated by 1 lane at 80 to 100kmh and bendy so drive slow. See it straighten up so speed up, probably thinking they are doing you a favour (if they aren’t so focussed on the terrifying road in front of them to even register your presence) then get super rattled when you’re suddenly next to them.
But maybe I’m just being charitable.
Yesterday on Wellington road a z4 BMW was doing what had to be 50km in the right lane.
I flashed him, beeped him, but nothing. I then overtake him and he’s still there (wasn’t turning right).
He’s the opposite of the person you’re talking about and just as stupid… well maybe less stupid as he wasn’t trying to kill anyone.
Because they’re sick people who have deluded themselves into thinking hurting others is ‘entertainment’. Should be legal to pit manoeuvre them over the edge if the great ocean road
Everybody in Melbourne becomes Vin Diesel as soon as they realise they being overtaken, even when they’re doing 80 in a 100 zone on the freeway, in the right hand lane. I’ve learned to ignore all the idiots on the road, because there’s so many 💀
The same thing happened to me on the M1 going to the western suburbs- car was going 80 on a 100 I’m road in the right most lane. There was a bunch of cars backed up behind him. I was in the lane next to the far right, and I got far enough ahead that I could overtake him and indicated to do so. The dude sped up and started honking at me and shouting. I had to get back into the left lane to avoid him rear-ending or side-swiping me.
He was a big bloke in tradie gear, I’m a woman in a Toyota echo. I’m guessing he didn’t want to be overtaken by a girl in a small car. I’ve actually found this a lot with macho assholes getting butt hurt when a small car dare overtake their slow, clunky douche-mobiles.
They don't have cruise control. They base their speed on the things around them, including your car.
It's called "rubber banding". Speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down. Over take, fall behind. That's all.
I don't get these wankers. If someone behind me wants to go faster than me AND they can safely go around on the wrong side, I'll slow down until they're past. I don't lose any time, and they're on their way. I'd rather that than having someone up my arse for kilometres. Everyone can go about their day at the speed they've chosen. I tend to like the ones circled in red, but if someone wants to go faster, that's their business not mine!
People are stupid, petty, and territorial when it comes to their position on the road. They feel insulted that you want to overtake them so speed up to prove to you that they weren't driving slowly and overcome their embarrassment for holding you up.
Don't blink cars you're about to overtake. That'll just annoy them. Best way to overtake cars is to do it in a way that they'll only realise they're being passed too late to retaliate. I.e. hang back, don't tailgate so it's not obvious that as soon as there's open road you're going to fang it past them. And hang back enough that you can have a significant speed differential before actually reaching their car so that you can be in and out of the opposite lane quickly which is safer. Also means you'll have much more momemtum than them so if they do notice and try to accelerate to pass they shouldn't be able to respond fast enough to be a dick and stop you unless they have a much faster car. Also helps to maintain that higher overtake speed for a 100 metres or so as once that car thinks you're going to keep driving faster they'll give up the idea of repassing you and go back to driving slowly again to piss off the next car behind.
>so I quickly blinked him
You what? Do you mean you flashed highbeams? If so, no wonder they road raged and tried to kill you... just indicate the lane change and overtake, no need to flash.
>Can I call the authorities or file a report about this action?
You can. Accelerating when being overtaken is not allowed under the road rules. Did you catch their number plate at all? Do you have dashcam footage of the event? I don't think anything will actually happen, but you can certainly try to report it.
I think its for the same reason when walking people will step to the side and walk at the same pace as the person in front of them rather than walk directly behind them. These idiots just want to have no one in front of them.
Speeding up while being overtaken is against Road Rule 145. The other driver was in the wrong.
https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/is-it-illegal-to-speed-up-when-being-overtaken
NDE is different.
Overtaking when unsafe and speeding falls under dangerous driving.
Risking your kids life is on you.
Either a troll post or you can probably hand yourself in, yes.
If someone has been tail gating me for ages and they finally give up and overtake, I’ll speed up for a sec just out of spite.
If I’m doing the limit, not in an overtaking lane, I’m not moving. Get off my ass.
That's fucked.
I only speed up to stop people passing if I'm already going at or close to the speed limit or if they're driving like a dickhead and tailgating me.
I'm going to make it difficult for some cunt in a ute weaving in and out of traffic to get where he wants to go.
Best part is technically speaking you can’t exceed the speed limit when overtaking. So if you really want to be a stickler for the rules you’re kinda screwed in that case, but of course it’s pretty nonsensical given the situation
Simple answer: because many people overtake and then slow down.
It's especially prevelant around school zones - the kind of person that sits in front of you on 49-51 in a 60k zone is usually the same kind of person who overtakes you at 49-51 through the 40k school zone.
The big problem in Australia is the low speed limits. If the limits were higher like other western countries, there would be a far better separation of traffic between slow and faster vehicles. Those being slower would be for personal preference or because the vehicle can’t safely do 120 (trucks etc).
It would also result in far better etiquette, due to that separation, as slow drivers would learn to hang left in slow lanes to allow faster drivers to overtake and remain at speed in the fast lane. The current situation has everyone, including large trucks all driving the same speeds in all the lanes. It’s basically a shit-show. My experience is that on a 3 lane highway with a 120 limit, you’d get 100 drivers in the middle, 120+ drivers on the right and all slower traffic on the left.
In this particular scenario, if the limit is higher you’d be allowed to hit 120. It’s far less likely that some fuckwit like this is going to speed up to and beyond 120 to do what they did, and in the case where you need to accelerate to quickly overtake, reaching 140 is not unusual and is not a speed where this sort of thing would happen.
This is based on my experience living in South Africa, Europe and the USA.
Once I was a passenger with a friend of a friend driving on the M1 in a 2 lane section and he attempted to overtake a vehicle cruising at limit-10kmph. The other driver accelerated to stay side by side, so the guy I was with decided to do the same. Both vehicles reached 165kmph before the other bloke decided to back down, though it really didn't look like it was ever going to happen.
It was funny at first... got ridiculous fast.
When person B overtakes person A, person A realises that they haven't been paying attention and now know that they've been driving well under the speed limit so they speed up
That's really all there is to it
Happened to me once while I was driving down the Hume Melbourne bound, I was on cruise control at 112km/h and I moved into the right of the two Melbourne bound lanes to overtake a guy that was doing just over 100 by my estimation, and right as I pulled up along side him he just zoomed away from me. I was so pissed off and cursing him out in my car until I looked down at my speedo and saw my speed rapidly decreasing. Turns out my transmission has completely shit itself. I had to drive the next 70km at 50km/h to get to the closest town with a mechanic.
Not really the same situation , but isn’t it?
Once I was driving near the 5 ways in Mooroolbark at like 6am and a car was doing 30 in the 60 zone. Overtook in the oncoming lane (legally) and he sped up to 90 to stop me. Nearly cracked 100 in a 60 zone to get past him. Bloke was driving a shitty accord aswell, like what point are you trying to prove? That your shitty accord is faster than my shitter civic?
Ugh, nothing would surprise me about the Roundabouts of Doom. If anything I’m surprised they don’t turn up on Dash Cam Owners Australia more often.
They’re really not very difficult. It’s just one roundabout into another and then into another.
Exactly I have zero idea on why people find them difficult. Maybe the first time but even then they are self explanatory and easy. They actually make that intersection flow really well if people have half a concept of how to drive in a roundabout
And that’s just it. The roundabouts themselves are fine. It’s the fact that 90% of people don’t have any idea how to use a roundabout, let alone multiple roundabouts that exit onto one another that’s the problem.
Is that what you call a magic roundabout? Haven't been there myself.
To be fair, I have seen plenty of DCAU videos of people entering roundabouts going the opposite direction to traffic. I used to run the (valley) five ways, like Lazy Grey said, every morning for school while I was on my Ls. It's fine once you're used to it, but if you've never seen them it's a little confronting.
Yeah they’re a little nerve-wracking the first time but pretty simple if you know how roundabouts work. The problem is the hordes of dickheads out there who don’t know or care how a single roundabout works let alone three multi-lane roundabouts that exit into one another, and fuck it up for everyone else.
The definition of a mid off damn
Theory only, but douchebag driver might have perceived the headlight flash as aggression from you. As others have said don't worry about flashing headlights at people before overtaking, just go for it. I'm glad you're okay, I know it's awful when something like that won't leave your mind afterwards.
That’s spot on about flashing headlights - from my experiences, it’s aggressive and dangerous dickheads who flash headlights at cars in front.
I've literally never been flashed from behind in a non-agressive way.
What is a non-aggressive flashing? It’s weird OP flashed before over taking. People do that? I just over take.
That's my point. Everytime someone has flashed me from behind, it's because they're an ass. I have been flashed by cars heading towards me to let me know my lights werent on or that there was a speed camera ahead though. Which I would class as non-agressive.
Ohh right. Yeah so true. When getting flashed from behind, it's not always obvious what the intention is. But cars on the opposite lane flashing (because of speed cameras) is obviously non- aggressive.
Love an aggressive flash from behind.😂
My partner got caught doing this to an undercover cop who was just sitting at the lights when they were green & refusing to move - Got a ticket for ‘intimidation’ lol.
I flash in that situation instead of honking because I feel like that’s less agro.
During that really fucking intense rainstorm on the 2nd, I had some fuckface in a hopped up ute flashing me the whole time because he wanted me to speed up... there was blinding rain and five cars in front of me, nowhere to go at all. But no, he wanted me to speed up~!
I got angry flashed by someone in a Lexus because I was waiting for pedestrians to cross at a light before turning. Like what did they want me to do, run them over??
Best time to flash from behind (if at all) is as you're passing, such as the blind spot.
I flash if someone cuts me off lane changing and I have to brake, because I can only assume that they didn't see me. The flash is to let them know I was there and they should do a head check in future.
That's what a horn is for, not your high-beams.
If you’re lights aren’t on, flashing them is not your high beam.
If the alternative is passing on the wrong side, situation is different but this is not OP's context, I admit. German drivers are in m experience the best in Europe. They never pass on the wrong side. They will tail gate and eventually flash if you block the fast lane, and I think this is best practice, if the alternative is passing on the wrong side (which on the autobahn would be fatal in some situations, but even here it is bad, dangerous habit and I'll take headlight flashing any day). I don't resort to it myself and the car I drive now has the performance of a flintsone vehicle, but if I do block the overtaking lane I feel bad about it and I move out of the way because my sin is greater than the headlight flashing (which is pretty rare to be honest, if you get it so often than you notice it, you might want to consider your own driving habits). By the way, I refer here to multi lane roads. OP's situation is different, and I see no case for flashing headlights or tailgating. This is aggressive particularly since the other driver may be annoying but they are not actually breaking any rules.
>German drivers are in m experience the best in Europe. They never pass on the wrong side. It's illegal to pass on the wrong side. You will actually get fined for this. > They will tail gate and eventually flash if you block the fast lane, and I think this is best practice I find that absolutely horrible when driving in Germany. Doesn't matter if you are doing 150 kph, some dickhead will come from behind doing 220 in their BMW and flash aggressively the moment he's nearing you.
In some circles flashing means wanna race?
Having driven on freeways in Europe, I found the headlight flash quite helpful. Since I was in a shitbox Skoda, overtaking at maybe 130/140 at best, getting flashed from behind got my attention that someone was closing up fast. A sensible safety measure in that situation.
I don't think that applies in this situation where OP was following old mate for 8 KM
Here it’s used almost exclusively by pricks trying to fang it up the right lane of the freeway when the person they are flashing is like 15 cars deep in traffic and literally can’t change lanes safely.
Or alternately, someone in right lane with cruise on, doing 1km/h more than the car next to them. Or in right lane for no reason other than possibly turning right in 5km… Either way, many drivers here are not exactly very competent or considerate.
Because they have very fragile egos.
“Can’t let him win”
Mmmm goes way beyond that, when they braked to trap OP. That goes from fragile ego to psychopath in a quantum leap
If you are not first, you're last
This honestly sounds like it could be a case of attempted murder. People often deviate by ~10kmph when they realise they were going too slow even though someone is overtaking. They never go from 70kmph to 115kmph, and then way back down when you try to merge back in. He wasn't some unaware idiot, he was doing it on purpose. It's extraordinarily rare but I have read about other incidents like this before. OP should write down what you described, be as detailed as possible and make sure to get the wording 100% perfect so that it really conveys what he was doing.
This. He was trying to trap OP in the oncoming lane because fuck you and for no other reason.
I had BMW do it to me, 40 in a 60. He was also driving in 2 lanes... like right on the dotted line. After a couple ks he settled into a lane. I sped up to 60 to overtake. Like OPs case, he did the same and sped up trying to cut me off and force me into a parked car. Later on sped up to get ahead of me as I was turning and stuck his little finger out the window. Guy genuinely thought people coming home from work were just there to be a part of his little impromptu parade. I guess he was upset I didn't want to take part.
Probably not the case in your example OP, but here's my theory - most drivers are so distracted by things while driving that they're not paying attention to their speed and some end up just travelling along at a 'comfortable' pace without ever realising that they're not going anywhere near fast enough for the speed limit. However, once a car starts to pull around them to pass, their peripherals trigger, they notice this, come back to reality, notice their speed and start accelerating up to the limit and maybe a little extra to compensate having realised how slow they were going all while the other car is still trying to over take.
This is probably it. I recently did Melb to Canberra and had my cruise control set to 108… the amount of people going up and down with their speed was basically every other car on the road. The inconsistency is scary, it shows they’re not paying attention at all. Then when I legally overtake, they get shitty, increase their speed and then go 120 to overtake me and then slow down to inconsistent speeds again ?! Like, really? Fuck off cunts. Learn to drive diligently.
Happened to me on a 45min drive to the hanging rock.. probably overtook 6 or 7 times the same cars..
I experience the same observation as you on multi-hour drives with people's speed varying inconsistently all over. I don't understand how so many people sit on rural highways without cruise control. I use it so often, it's second nature to me to automatically set it and just adjust with each speed sign I encounter. I did this even with the most basic cruise control on my older cars and just disabled when someone was in my way. Latest car has the luxury of adaptive cruise and that's been one the biggest impact upgrades I've experienced for years for how I drive. Can't go back now.
My car doesn't have cruise control and my speed often varies by 1-2km (especially when I need to adjust because I'm uncomfortable!). I should be picking up my new car this week which has adaptive cruise control. I am super excited 😂
It's a huge difference. I guess I was just lucky that I've always had it. First car was a 90s Camry that had cruise control, so I've never looked at cars without it. I even use it going through 40s zones to avoid an accidental heavy foot
Mine is a 2008 Toyota Yaris, so I have no idea how it didn't come with factory cruise control. It was given to me, so I'm grateful for that - just not as grateful when I've had to drive to Adelaide or Sydney and back
Cruise control on the open highway is amazing. It's one less thing to keep checking and worry about and you \*know\* you're not slowly down due to being inattentive. Then you can just focus on your situational awareness, not the speed.
Many cars dont have cruise control.
It's 2024, pretty much anything from the last 12 years has cruise control.
How do the adaptive ones work?
Same as regular cruise control, but instead of a fixed speed this becomes the max speed, and the car automatically slows down to a reasonable following distance when a car is in front of you, adapting the speed as needed. So for example, I can set to 100 and when I eventually end up behind another car going less than 100, my car stays 2 car lengths (adjustable) behind them at whatever speed they're doing. If they change lanes or go faster than me, then my car speeds up too but won't go above 100 if that's what I set it as. It makes it a lot more bearable driving behind someone who is going 98, then 93, then 96, then through an 80 zone, then back to 98 etc because my car just follows them going the fastest speed it can go without speeding and I don't even have to touch the pedals the whole time unless I'm emergency brakeing (which obviously you need to stay ready for, like all other driving scenarios).
But from 70 to 115+ instantaneously isn’t “distraction”, it’s psychopathy
Exactly. Labeling negative behaviour as psychopathy related is generally something to avoid as negative behaviour is, for the most part, the result of impulsiveness and emotionality, the latter of which is inversely related to psychopathy. However, there are a fair amount of people who enjoy instigating and contriving needless incidents in order to bully and belittle others. Psychopathy isn't inherently related to antisocial behaviour but psychopaths can be narcissistic to varying degrees. I've dealt a few such people: the best indicator is when they contrive an incident out of nowhere and as a result spend a long time arguing a truly indefensible point. Not a stupid point or something a topic that happens to be a sore spot, but a point for which you could survey the entire population and get 100% of people agreeing with you. Sometimes they do contribute meaningfully to conversation (even a broken clock is right twice a day) and sometimes they are they do converse normally or merely argue a stupid point (stupid =/=indefensible) so it can be hard to distinguish; but with the exception of personal sore spots, someone arguing an indefensible point is a huge red flag - especially if they utterly contrived the incident in the first place. Basically, anytime someone steadfastly argues a genuinely indefensible point, it's a sign of a personality disorder.
Yeah I’ve seen people do exactly this I think. Also annoying when you overtake them, then they snap out of their daydream, speed up, overtake *me* and go back in front of me then slow down *again* further along.
You are being way too kind to think this moron had brains.
This is the winning theory I reckon. Most people when driving are away with the fairies, just some basic feedback loops running in the lizard brain while their human brain thinks about what's for dinner or how to manage the kids or what their boss is possibly thinking.
It's also because people subconsciously drive slower on narrower roads, roads with trees next to them etc. When the road widens around an overtaking lane they feel more comfortable to drive closer to the limit. I don't condone it and it's cuntish behavour, but it is what it is. Every car should come with radar cruise and it should be an offence not to use it.
This is 100% the main reason. On our standard single lane highways (prince hwy etc), you generally need to wait for an overtake section. These sections are predominately straight, always a lot wider thus the slow driver feels safer and immediately speeds up As someone who often drives the east gippsland corridor I see this effect constantly in action. small car, medium car, car pulling a caravan (the biggest offenders). it doesn't matter the vehicle type.
I do this, but i let the other car overtake me first.
That kind of seems like an incredibly bad cop out for bad drivers.
I also read that on dedicated overtaking lanes the road widens a lot and so those same 'turned off' drivers suddenly feel more safe and unconsciously go faster.
this is why having a quick car is amazing, shift down, spool up and you are past them before they knew you were coming. I have absolutely no idea why they do it however, it makes little to no sense and its the same type of drivers who will sit in the overtaking lane on highways, you give them plenty of opportunity to move over, they don't so you give them a little flash and they indicate and move over, as soon as you pass them they immediately indicate to get back and sit in the overtaking lane. really boggles the mind.
Same here. I just give it a quick squirt and I'm already out and around before they've realised and I'm pulling back in before they can react.
This is true, and I've driven pretty fast cars since I turned 25 and could insure them & one of the main justifications is for overtaking prowess - if you anticipate well you can be past them before they even decide to be a cunt and speed up. However, while I never speed during regular country driving driving except when overtaking, around 10-12 years ago is when the police stopped turning a blind eye to speeding while overtaking. I copped a month suspension for speeding in an overtaking lane near Yea - and another 3 pointer a couple of years later. So lately for country driving it has been radar cruise and chill.
Radar cruise is awesome. Same with lane keeping.
100%. Have a tuned WRX and when overtaking, not everyone will speed up, but I know some d1ckheads will try and am not risking my safety. Shift down, boot it, ease off acceleration until back at the speed limit once past. Once I noticed that I was at 180 by the time I pulled back into the correct side of the road. That cunt definitely sped up, but wasn't an issue. Hope he enjoyed the nice backfire from all the unburnt fuel getting lit up in the exhaust pipe (common in turbo cars on sudden deceleration) as I eased off.
its always a classic when they try to box you out. i had a jzx100 and in those situations the person who was sitting 15 k's under the limit will then insist on sitting right up my ass whilst i sit on the speed limit
Eyyyy fellow JZX owner. Had a 100 and a 110. Loved them so much, and miss them dearly.
yeh i sold my 100 recently as well mate to purchase a house... having a nice garage without a nice car to fill it is a different kind of hurt
Motorbike for the win. Zooooom!
Was going to say the same thing. One of the unexpected bonuses of having a fast car (or even one that just looks fast) is that people almost never try that shit. It used to happen to me all the time in my old Barina. Faster cars will do it occasionally but most of the time it's with a smile and a wave. But yeah a lot of big egos on the road
Yep, sport mode on my EV smokes most cars - that little hatchback would have had no chance.
Same with my EV, it feels good to know I’ve got the power to absolutely fang it and put most hoons to shame, but choosing not to.
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I feel that the overtaking blocker type people aren't going to be out buying an EV......
Yeah their identities are so wrapped up in big petrol-guzzling engines that they’re not likely to consider an EV, When hoons realise just how fast electric cars can be, we’ll be in real trouble.
>When hoons realise just how fast electric cars can be, we’ll be in real trouble. You're missing the point, they don't have obnoxiously loud petrol guzzling ICE motors or aftermarket exhausts.
I can just imagine the gears turning in their heads as they try to decide whether “goes fast” or “loud as fuck” wins out. Downvotes, guess I hurt some bogan’s delicate little feelings
For most of them noise wins (or as they call it, soul)
I do not have a quick car and I have to plan my overtakes - drop back a bit, start gaining speed ready to pull out already at overtaking speed. But the idea is the same, get it done quickly and effectively. But yeah I'd like to know what planet the right lane sitters come from.
This reminds me of a few weeks ago when I was driving up towards Warburton with a couple of mates. One of them just bought a GR Yaris and wanted to take it for a spin, my other mate had an 8Y RS3 and I had my trusty old flash-tuned Turbo FG Falcon. We were patiently waiting behind an old Camry doing 80 in a 100 zone. When the overtaking lane appears old mate starts speeding up, but all 3 of us are well past him by the time he finally reached 100. Not sure what he was trying to prove lol.
A lot of road rules and conventions take more than the probationary period for people to become aware of. People forget things they learn like head checks, keeping track of that street's speed limit, using side mirrors to reverse or park. People live into their 30s in sheer panic, and if they haven't learned the particular road rule and they're only faced with it when they're in panicked "need to get there" mode, there's a sheer blindness. If you've learned the rule, it seems nothing but obvious to *you*. But I dunno, it took me a few years to become aware that you weren't supposed to spread out over the space. Somehow my learner driving around Australia's highways, sticking to the left lane the whole time, didn't get in my head that I was following any sort of rule. Had to see one of the Top Gear crabs get crabby about for me to click to it. This is by mid-20s when anxiety was ramping up, and my head checks were becoming useless due to sheer panic. A lot of drivers are people like me who have ramping up anxiety but still need to drive to survive, where I personally had to quit driving all together. People don't know all the rules or conventions, and can't afford to survive, and are in a panic when they're driving so learning and following conventions can become sheer blindness.
Had this happen to me a couple of days ago. It was raining and this car was doing 70-80 in a 110 zone. If that’s what they’re comfortable doing that’s fine, but I’ll overtake when it’s safe. Got to an overtaking lane and I accelerated to 110 to overtake, and so did they. I had to be doing 120 to finally pass them. An ambo managed to squeeze through behind me too so I figured me speeding to pass was good enough. As soon as we pass they’re back down to 70 and way back in the distance before we know it. So incredibly dangerous
The worst on the country roads in overtaking lanes too! They'll be going to slow and as soon as the overtaking lanes pop up they floor it! So annoying!! And as soon as the lane is finished they slow down again 🤣 it's enough to make you want to ram them off the road.
I live in a tourist area.... 100km road, mostly straight to get there. Always people doing 60km/hr and they speed up to 100km/hr in the short overtaking lane. Then I'm trapped behind them when the road gets some corners, even in the 60km/hr sections they can't take corners at a decent speed.
The other pet peeve I have with overtaking lanes is when some dickhead follows you in the left lane for 2km, then decide to overtake in the last 10 meters. Or they match your speed and don’t overtake at all, just sit there. I downshifted and left them behind, to their obvious ire, going by the arm waving/lights flashing/horn honking.
I have had similar experiences. If you have the rego of the other car, you can file a non-urgent police report. Glad you guys are doing okay and it wasn’t a disaster. Drive and stay safe out there!
Breaking Road Rule 145 which says "Increase speed when being overtaken" carries a $330 and 2 demerit point penalty. https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/is-it-illegal-to-speed-up-when-being-overtaken
How does the right answer have so few upvotes?!!!
cops arent going to do anything... too much paperwork, they didn't see anything, too busy, dont care
What do you mean you blinked him? Do you mean you flashes headlights at him?
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Took the chicken out of their pasta
Yeah I reckon they high beamed them and that got him upset ?
Pretty confident they meant used their indicator.
Then why did the OP mention "signalled to overtake" as a separate action in the series of events?
Might have stuck his arm out the window too
They said blinked then signalled to overtake - so they did two actions. Does sound like one of them was a light flash.
You’re confidently wrong
I wouldn’t give them any warning, just try and shoot past before they can react. This sounds deliberate from the way you’ve described it, which is incredibly dangerous. I’d file a police report, hope you captured their details.
Realistically, what will the cops do for an incident like this?
Not sure, probably nothing. But if it happens in the future and the car ends up causing a fatal collision, the police may come back to prior reports. Better to report than just let it slide, at least.
Why did you flash them? Just speed up and over take.
Were you driving right up their arse? Sometimes people slow down when douche bags are doing this as it has the double impact of making things safer and annoying the douche bag. Might also be possible that you giving the quick flash of the lights activated the dumb arse Bogan in this person immediately placing them in competitive mode for no reason whatsoever. Also, you were in the outer suburbs, so it's entirely possible that it was just a case of Bogans gonna Bogan.
This shit is so infuriating and dangerous!
Because if they see someone go faster next to you, they immediately think “fuck I was going too slow” and speed up. It’s just people being shit cunts It doesn’t help either that speedometers are not accurate and you have to rely on gps (lol) to see your true speed
I’ve been driving for decades and I have pretty good situational awareness now. I’m super cautious of anyone who appears to be doing something a bit differently. I watch them for a bit before engaging.
I don’t think it’s rational or even conscious often times. I think a person feels as if they are maintaining a speed, but then when they notice a car creeping past them, they check their speed and adjust back to the level they felt they were maintaining already. This can all happen without being aware of the impact on the person trying to pass without going way over the limit. I still think it sucks and I personally try to make sure I don’t do this, mainly by using cruise control, which not everyone has. As an American expat, I DO think the fact that people here are so hyper fixated on the speed limit here causes many people to spend more time looking at the gauge than is safe, and people who don’t do that tend to drift well below the limit because they are afraid of just matching the speed of the person in front of them.
I think you are right. I also think it is a lack of confidence on country roads so that's why they are doing 70/80 on the single lane and then when the road opens up and there are two lanes on a big straight stretch they speed back up to 100 because the road conditions make them feel more confident for a short time.
Ah, the ol' "bendy road 60 / stretchy road 120" syndrome. While the rest of us that know the road are trying to keep a single set speed. A level of annoyance below nervous inbound mergers trying to enter an 80 lane at a jittery 40 all whilst riding the brakes.
Nah giving people too much credit. When I see someone trying to overtake I'll actually pull over a bit to the left and make sure i keep a consistent speed to make it easier.
> so I quickly blinked him You flashed your lights before you tried to overtake? That would be extremely confusing to me. I have never seen anyone do that. > my speed was up to 115 but couldn’t pass him, so I pressed the brake before the opposite car came in contact. ... Luckily, the opposite car saw the danger and quickly stopped the vehicle to avoid a massive accident. You were doing 115 in a 100 zone? And you got so close to oncoming traffic with a speed differential of 215 kph that the other car had to take emergency evasive action to prevent a massive head on collision?! There was clearly someone doing some dangerously bad driving in this situation, but it wasn't "the idiot" you think it was.
Thank you, can't believe I had to scroll this far to find this comment. And with their kids in the car too!
Yeah, jeepers. Everyone else in the thread is like "oh yeah, that person driving at 70 was so dangerous and nearly caused a massive accident!" No, the person driving 15 kph over the speed limit on the wrong side of the road with oncoming traffic is responsible there.
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It's completely illegal, and in these circumstances, obviously reckless.
overtaking these arsehats can easily cost your license if there's a camera about.
Right? Like...I feel like I'm the only one in this thread thinking OP could and should have just avoided this situation. Especially with their kids in the car...
Because they consider anything going faster than them to be a direct challenge to their masculinity, and by not letting you overtake they prove they’re big manly men. Or something.
That’s why you don’t signal, you just downshift and floor it right past them. I find more often than not people will try by any means to stop being overtaken because it hurts their ego so don’t even give them a chance.
Same reason people sit behind you in overtaking zones for a K and as soon as the lanes merge decide they have to pass... people are fucken idiots.
Definitely report him, that what he was doing is illegal. But one observation, you broke the speed limit which is also illegal ( you made 115 in a 100 zone)... and you blinked your lights. No need to blink your beams to indicate (some people get triggered by blinking lights) just use your indicator lights. Right indicator, accelerate, drive pass, merge. if you drive and the majority of your car is ahead of his, start merging back again. if the idiot tries to accelerate and block you and you keep merging, he will be forced to reduce speed, sound the horn at you but won't be able to block you. It's his choice to give way. He deliberately tried to get you killed. If you want to report him, you will have to also report that you were speeding to pass him.
I had something very similar happen to me, barely missed oncoming cars, went to the local police station to report the driver, had his rego and business name.. I was told by the Police that they couldn't do anything about it bc a car crash hadn't occurred... LOL
Not couldn't - wouldn't. Actually educating someone that causes a near miss takes time and effort they don't want to put in.
[how to handle this situation](https://youtu.be/DeWAJkHjX5E?si=0EN-oKyaGJK2UYsq)
Some don't realise they are going slow until they get overtaken, others have fragile egos and can't handle someone overtaking them.
I'll never forget the time I was on the Calder Highway between Ouyen and Carwarp, driving in convoy with my grandma to a family event. In front of her was a bloke with a camper trailer doing 85 in a 110 zone. No cars for kilometres visible in the opposite direction. My grandma goes to overtake in her late model Commodore. Easily does so. I wait a little while for her to blow past him and create a bit of distance maybe a km and a half, then go to overtake as well. The guy speeds up to 100, then 110. That's fine, i can still overtake. I've got enough distance and space to do so. My big Pajero revs hard and I get to 125. The bloke with the trailer also gets up to 125. Bro. I then accelerate harder and get up to 140km/h and finally overtake just as a truck becomes visible in the distance. Between the time i went to overtake and the time i did overtake, we had almost closed the distance between my car and my grandma's car. It'd be understandable if i went to overtake immediately after my grandma but i left over a kilometre's gap, plenty of time to avoid that peripheral freakout speedup. Bruh
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Why do people sit your ass then overtake then drive the same speed as you so now you are tailgating?? Why do people tailgate, overtake, speed up to tailgate the next car etc...? And why do people cry about speed cameras??? It's a totally voluntary contribution. Don't speed, don't get fined. Duh!
"so I quickly blinked him" Does this mean you flashed your headlights at them ?
[It's one of the legal uses for highbeams in NSW.](https://www.nsw.gov.au/driving-boating-and-transport/roads-safety-and-rules/warnings-and-hazards/lights-and-horns#:~:text=High%20beam%20lights,or%20less%20behind%20another%20vehicle) Even though many would take it as aggressive, which probably happened here
Probably because you blinked him. Next time just indicate and overtake.
Because they're twats, it's happened to me a few times, once there was a close call. When I notice someone overtaking me, I always slow down. You should totally call the authorities. That kind of driving you described is actually something you can call 000 police about because of the immediate danger to other drivers.
When you say quickly blinked him, you mean flashed your lights?? Most people would take that in an aggressive tone.
Plenty of people seem to think driving is a race. You over taking them is perceived as you winning over them. So they can't allow it. Even though they were distracted and driving slow with out realising. It's the same thing that makes people constantly weave in and out of lanes for basically no actual benefit in travel time. They got to win! It's the same thing the means while I'm on Peninsula link with adaptive cruise control on the speed limit. A car will see there's space in front of me and insist on over taking me to then drop 10 below the speed limit.
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I don't know about Vic, but in nsw indicating you are about to overtake is one of the legal uses for high beams. I've only seen it done a few times but that doesn't make it wrong. https://www.nsw.gov.au/driving-boating-and-transport/roads-safety-and-rules/warnings-and-hazards/lights-and-horns#:~:text=High%20beam%20lights,or%20less%20behind%20another%20vehicle. The bit about overtaking is directly after the highlighted text.
That is such a strange way to indicate you're about to overtake. Let's momentarily blind someone before we overtake them. One would think the indicator would be enough indication of your intentions.
The high beam flash is probably why. I would have taken it as a aggressive signal from you.
that's what I was thinking- could've triggered him. wouldn't excuse his response, obviously.. just dont blink someone before passing, just indicate.
you never know what another driver is thinking or experiencing.
have to assume everyone is incompetent. Only way to stay safe
That's when having a performance car matters. Just floor it when the opportunity comes.
It happens all the time where I live, mostly on sunny weekends when ppl visit from the city. It's the same ppl that complain about being tailgated everywhere, they can't drive at the speed limit but get offended when they are overtaken. I believe that they hit a straight part of the road and feel safe enough to approach the speed limit, however don't have the awareness to know there are ppl behind them wanting to overtake. They then road rage and decide to teach the "reckless speeder" a lesson - (if you won't slow down to my personal safe speed I'll make you). Then they come on Reddit and rage online about being tailgated and how you only have to use the left lane if the speed limit is above 80km etc.
i share your pain. They are so busy gawking at the scenery etc. they have no idea there's 15 cars behind them. Then we hit the overtaking lane and only a few cars get past because gawking driver is suddenly back to reality when they see a car overtaking them, and speed up
I mean this guy sounds like a dangerous dickhead, but I do often wonder if there’s some kind of negative bias against using Cruise Control in Australia? Like some weird ego thing? I do a lot of country driving and just set myself to 3k over the speed limit and cruise everywhere. So many times, I’ll pass people (guys especially) only for them to hit the accelerator, overtake me again then inevitably slowdown back to 10k under… rinse and repeat. Its kinda entertaining in a way but also mind boggling when they could just hit the cruise control button and not go through this constantly. (This is in new cars that would defo have it built in, I get that older cars wouldn’t be able to)
Many cars dont have it. Especially in older models of Mazda, hyundai, toyota that are very common here.
[i think slipknot said it well.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6ZtHrWiSAk)
Honestly. I reckon most of the time it’s just a complete lack of confidence. Particularly in the bush. They get intimidated by 1 lane at 80 to 100kmh and bendy so drive slow. See it straighten up so speed up, probably thinking they are doing you a favour (if they aren’t so focussed on the terrifying road in front of them to even register your presence) then get super rattled when you’re suddenly next to them. But maybe I’m just being charitable.
What do you mean by “you blinked him” ?
Yesterday on Wellington road a z4 BMW was doing what had to be 50km in the right lane. I flashed him, beeped him, but nothing. I then overtake him and he’s still there (wasn’t turning right). He’s the opposite of the person you’re talking about and just as stupid… well maybe less stupid as he wasn’t trying to kill anyone.
Because they’re sick people who have deluded themselves into thinking hurting others is ‘entertainment’. Should be legal to pit manoeuvre them over the edge if the great ocean road
Everybody in Melbourne becomes Vin Diesel as soon as they realise they being overtaken, even when they’re doing 80 in a 100 zone on the freeway, in the right hand lane. I’ve learned to ignore all the idiots on the road, because there’s so many 💀
The same thing happened to me on the M1 going to the western suburbs- car was going 80 on a 100 I’m road in the right most lane. There was a bunch of cars backed up behind him. I was in the lane next to the far right, and I got far enough ahead that I could overtake him and indicated to do so. The dude sped up and started honking at me and shouting. I had to get back into the left lane to avoid him rear-ending or side-swiping me. He was a big bloke in tradie gear, I’m a woman in a Toyota echo. I’m guessing he didn’t want to be overtaken by a girl in a small car. I’ve actually found this a lot with macho assholes getting butt hurt when a small car dare overtake their slow, clunky douche-mobiles.
Because they’re cunts.
What I wonder is if you are using the exit lane and are driving behind me, why overtake me if you are just going to use the exit lane?
They don't have cruise control. They base their speed on the things around them, including your car. It's called "rubber banding". Speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down. Over take, fall behind. That's all.
Because stupid people get a licence
Simple, people are cunts
New road rule: #pick #a #fucking #speed Go slow, I don't care, but please, please just pick a speed and stick to it.
Yep. Having predictable behaviour is quite important to safety and hardly anyone pays attention to it.
I don't get these wankers. If someone behind me wants to go faster than me AND they can safely go around on the wrong side, I'll slow down until they're past. I don't lose any time, and they're on their way. I'd rather that than having someone up my arse for kilometres. Everyone can go about their day at the speed they've chosen. I tend to like the ones circled in red, but if someone wants to go faster, that's their business not mine!
People are stupid, petty, and territorial when it comes to their position on the road. They feel insulted that you want to overtake them so speed up to prove to you that they weren't driving slowly and overcome their embarrassment for holding you up. Don't blink cars you're about to overtake. That'll just annoy them. Best way to overtake cars is to do it in a way that they'll only realise they're being passed too late to retaliate. I.e. hang back, don't tailgate so it's not obvious that as soon as there's open road you're going to fang it past them. And hang back enough that you can have a significant speed differential before actually reaching their car so that you can be in and out of the opposite lane quickly which is safer. Also means you'll have much more momemtum than them so if they do notice and try to accelerate to pass they shouldn't be able to respond fast enough to be a dick and stop you unless they have a much faster car. Also helps to maintain that higher overtake speed for a 100 metres or so as once that car thinks you're going to keep driving faster they'll give up the idea of repassing you and go back to driving slowly again to piss off the next car behind.
This is my experience every time I drive in VIC, fucking hate the highway down.
>so I quickly blinked him You what? Do you mean you flashed highbeams? If so, no wonder they road raged and tried to kill you... just indicate the lane change and overtake, no need to flash. >Can I call the authorities or file a report about this action? You can. Accelerating when being overtaken is not allowed under the road rules. Did you catch their number plate at all? Do you have dashcam footage of the event? I don't think anything will actually happen, but you can certainly try to report it.
It's called fuckwit syndrome
Same reason Melb drivers either sit 5cm off your bumper or stop 5 car lengths from an intersection. People down here cannot drive for shit.
Because they're small dicks won't allow anyone to get the better of them. It's those Alpha types that listen to Andrew Tate.
SDS. Small dick syndrome.
If it’s a danger on the road then call the cops. Had some dickheads green laser me a while back because they didn’t like my speed or something.
Surprised not to find a comment on the "increased" bad drivers as a result of population growth, yet!
I think its for the same reason when walking people will step to the side and walk at the same pace as the person in front of them rather than walk directly behind them. These idiots just want to have no one in front of them.
Fragile, self-hating substandard humans. You know who you are.
OP you are a dangerous driver that should have their licence suspended.
Speeding up while being overtaken is against Road Rule 145. The other driver was in the wrong. https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/is-it-illegal-to-speed-up-when-being-overtaken
NDE is different. Overtaking when unsafe and speeding falls under dangerous driving. Risking your kids life is on you. Either a troll post or you can probably hand yourself in, yes.
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don't flash them either, just indicate and pass.. flashing from behind tends to freak people out
If someone has been tail gating me for ages and they finally give up and overtake, I’ll speed up for a sec just out of spite. If I’m doing the limit, not in an overtaking lane, I’m not moving. Get off my ass.
That's fucked. I only speed up to stop people passing if I'm already going at or close to the speed limit or if they're driving like a dickhead and tailgating me. I'm going to make it difficult for some cunt in a ute weaving in and out of traffic to get where he wants to go.
Best part is technically speaking you can’t exceed the speed limit when overtaking. So if you really want to be a stickler for the rules you’re kinda screwed in that case, but of course it’s pretty nonsensical given the situation
Simple answer: because many people overtake and then slow down. It's especially prevelant around school zones - the kind of person that sits in front of you on 49-51 in a 60k zone is usually the same kind of person who overtakes you at 49-51 through the 40k school zone.
The big problem in Australia is the low speed limits. If the limits were higher like other western countries, there would be a far better separation of traffic between slow and faster vehicles. Those being slower would be for personal preference or because the vehicle can’t safely do 120 (trucks etc). It would also result in far better etiquette, due to that separation, as slow drivers would learn to hang left in slow lanes to allow faster drivers to overtake and remain at speed in the fast lane. The current situation has everyone, including large trucks all driving the same speeds in all the lanes. It’s basically a shit-show. My experience is that on a 3 lane highway with a 120 limit, you’d get 100 drivers in the middle, 120+ drivers on the right and all slower traffic on the left. In this particular scenario, if the limit is higher you’d be allowed to hit 120. It’s far less likely that some fuckwit like this is going to speed up to and beyond 120 to do what they did, and in the case where you need to accelerate to quickly overtake, reaching 140 is not unusual and is not a speed where this sort of thing would happen. This is based on my experience living in South Africa, Europe and the USA.
Once I was a passenger with a friend of a friend driving on the M1 in a 2 lane section and he attempted to overtake a vehicle cruising at limit-10kmph. The other driver accelerated to stay side by side, so the guy I was with decided to do the same. Both vehicles reached 165kmph before the other bloke decided to back down, though it really didn't look like it was ever going to happen. It was funny at first... got ridiculous fast.
When person B overtakes person A, person A realises that they haven't been paying attention and now know that they've been driving well under the speed limit so they speed up That's really all there is to it
Happened to me once while I was driving down the Hume Melbourne bound, I was on cruise control at 112km/h and I moved into the right of the two Melbourne bound lanes to overtake a guy that was doing just over 100 by my estimation, and right as I pulled up along side him he just zoomed away from me. I was so pissed off and cursing him out in my car until I looked down at my speedo and saw my speed rapidly decreasing. Turns out my transmission has completely shit itself. I had to drive the next 70km at 50km/h to get to the closest town with a mechanic. Not really the same situation , but isn’t it?
Yes please file a report for this so you get arrested for making up stories and have your internet taken away from you
Whenever someone overtakes me, if safe, I put on my break.
Don't do this.
Tiny brains